[3.4] Rasgeroth's Bar Fight Build. (Shaper Viable, Budget, League Starter Dom Blow Summoner)

INTRODUCTION:

Greetings from the demon pit, exiles. Rasgeroth here, with a summoner build of righteous variety. As soon as I saw the new Dominating Blow, I knew I would end up making a build with them. Though the build ended up having many more guys running around with me, the center piece of the build will be the Sentinels of Dominance.

I'm a fledgling streamer meself, and you can find me playing Path of Exile, here:

https://www.twitch.tv/rasgeroth

If you find reading a guide is boring, and you rather watch to know what this thing here is about, you can check here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ko0fIwPUag&t=

ABOUT THE BUILD:
Spoiler
I'm a summoner main. There, I said it. I'm a lazy, careless summoner main who likes nothing more than to sit by and watch my minions cause mayhem, and stand there, tall and proud, whispering to myself "I made this." Oh, and loot stuff. That's important. You gotta make time to loot stuff, and killing should be done by lesser things, so that you can grab the shiniest thing off the ground, uninterrupted. See how great playing a summoner is? Here's an example:



The point of this build is to have all the melee minions, fighting all the other monsters, causing a big chaotic brawl in every map you ever set foot in. Besides, how the build works mimics an average bar fight as well.

First, take your henchmen, and rush in the bar/pub. (Your Zombies, a map.) Then, smack the first guy you see on the face, raise your hand into the air, and yell "FIIIIIGHT!" (Spirit Offering)

Right about now, a bunch of other patrons are running towards you, and they will be countered by other, drunker patrons who are just itching for a fight. (Normal Sentinels of Dominance.) See the mess you've just caused? Now is time for the meaner, more cunning drunks to enter fray, and punch their best friends in the face, because they have an unresolved issue, or they secretly love the same girl, or something. (Magic Sentinels of Dominance.) With everything going downhill real fast, the biggest , most muscular guy in the bar with a heart just as big, who can no longer sit and watch the lovable idiot (You) who started this ruckus get their head smashed in, joins the fray trying to keep the lovable idiot alive. (Rare Sentinel of Dominance.) By now the place is pretty much wrecked, the fighting ends with the frail, tiny dude smashing a chair on the back of the bouncer. (Skeletons, map boss.)

Totally true story. At least for mapping in Path of Exile, using this build anyway.

BUILD MECHANICS:
Spoiler
Point is to lose count of your minions. Point is to lose sight of everything, and try to figure out if that big bright ball is a cluster of sentinels clumped up, or a volatile flame core.

For that effect, we have Zombies, (5 or 11-12 depending on gear.) Sentinels of Dominance, (13) Sentinels of Purity (4), Skeletons, (10) Vaal Skeletons, (41) an Animated Guardian, a Stone Golem and a Holy Relic. That is a lot of minions. Usually, you will be making use of an army half that size, as things drop dead long before you are finished spawning Vaal Summon Skeletons.

Zombies: Leech bros, meat shields, bruisers, depending on which support gems you went with. I personally use a defensive setup on these as I don't want them to die, ever.

Skeletons: Sometimes, you just wanna stay away and keep tossing cannon fodder into the fray. These are your willing sacrifices. Plus, they are the best single target this build has.

Sentinels of Dominance: Coolest looking dudes who shield charge in and start the mayhem for you. Seriously, I love these guys, they look great, and they pack a punch. They will have melee splash, so these are your go to map clearers.

Stone Golem: Our own bouncer, is here for the regen, because why not?

Sentinels of Purity: Extra damage, the ascendancy buffs them too. (I HAVE NEVER SEEN THEM IN ACTION. I can never find these ghosts in the chaos I bring upon my enemies. But having that number 4 pop right on the corner of that buff icon is nice, I guess.)

Holy Relic: The medic of the army. Your minions keep sending love letters to this little symbol. You should intervene before things get out of hand.

Animated Guardian: The utility minions. Has culling strike, damage increase, and Frenzy Charge generation for you and your minions on it. Tough as hell.

Mandatory gear as follows:


And three important Unique Jewels: Two Efficient Trainings to get us to the 1000 STR mark, and a From Dust to help us spawn skeletons easily. (If you would prefer to only use Vaal version of the skill, you can swap that one with any rare jewel with the stats you need.)

Great, optional supporting cast:


A +3 Unset ring may be enough to keep your zombies alive if you also have the Mon'tregul. A Doon Cuebiyari is an excellent option as well, giving you a lot of armor and strength as you don't need the damage.

For Dominating Blow, try to get a Shaper weapon with "Melee Splash" on it. That is the only required link for the skill, as you want to create more than one sentinel per strike. Plus, sentinels can make use of the gem, giving them good clear speed.

As the build uses Baron, you want to get 1000 strength to have your zombies leech life for you, on top of your amazing regen coming from Ascendancy, Relic and passives combined.

You auto-create minions and give them regen just by attacking, so try to be just a tiny bit better player by remembering that you can boost their damage and survivability through Spirit Offering as well.

PRO & CON:
Spoiler

Pro's:
Spoiler
  • Can deal with any map mod. Nothing stops you or makes you think, just like a true summoner build. (Looking at you, D3 Necro.)
  • When someone asks you, (i.e: Shaper) "You and what army?", you have an awesome comeback you can show, not just tell.
  • Has high life regen and life leech, on top of a 7K(ish) HP pool. Doon version has good physical damage reduction as well.
  • CHEAP AS FUCK. Seriously, even the Astramentis is not mandatory. This is no Baron Zombies build, it is just a Baron build. 1000 is good enough, you can stop there if you wish. If you got currency to burn, it means your life total and overall damage of your minions go up, which is great.
  • Great starter build. Leveling is a piece of cake as well, since you have all the minions, all the time.

Cons:
Spoiler
  • This build can only deal like 1/3 of actual damage it has, on single target fights. All the minions are melee. They will swarm their target, but many of them will stand around, push in, flail around in as if they are rude passengers trying to barge into the subway during rush hour. Seriously, twinned bosses on maps die faster than their regular versions.
  • Can make you a lazy player, sure. But since you should be a legion commander, leading the charge as you play this build, being reckless gets you killed.
  • You can only steadily generate frenzy charges on boss encounters, as the Animated Guardian will not have anything alive to smack so that it can keep your charges maxxed out while mapping. You do get one pop up from time to time though.

PASSIVES & ASCENDANCY:
Spoiler

Passives:
Spoiler
Current Version, Path of Building:
https://pastebin.com/tzUQjYYG

Passives for non-PoB users are at the leveling section, down below.

Bandits:
Spoiler
You have an army. They don't. Take no prisoners.

Pantheon:
Spoiler
Major God:Soul of Lunaris: This is a summoner build, with too many things that are summoned by you. You don't want to blow up by being at the receiving end of projectiles. It is unlikely since we got a lot of minions here, but unlikely is worse than impossible, so go for this one.
Minor God:Soul of Gruthkul or Soul of Shakari: Depending on your choice. You want poison immunity, go for the Scorpion. You want more physical damage reduction? Go for the fuzzy bear.

Ascendancy:
Spoiler
In order of importance:

Radiant Crusade: You want to start with your summoning plan right off the gate. Get this. You will always have allies, since Dom Blow comes at LVL 28. Herald effect is great for leveling as well
.
Unwavering Crusade: The second and last summoning ascendancy. It will keep both you and your minions alive through the extra regen, and intimidate is a huge bonus.

Time of Need: Reduced curse effectiveness right before mapping stage of the game? Yes please. Plus, the recovery only adds to your regenerative capabilities.

Bastion of Hope: You will always be swapping between attacks and casting. Skeletons and the Offering are spells, along with Desecrate ofcourse. Your movement skill and Dominating Blow are attacks, so both benefits up, all the time. Blocking does help more than you realize as well. Buffs stay on for 10 seconds, so you don't even have to think about them. Just plug-and-play, this one.

GEAR & ENCHANTMENTS:
Spoiler
Current Gear:
Spoiler

The first thing you might have noticed may be that sweet, sweet stat stick. It won't give you a lot of DPS as the base damage is pretty horrible, but the good thing is damage is the last thing you need on it. An even better version would have + level to socketed melee gems, which would turn my sentinels of dominance into even more powerful demigods than they currently are. The most and pretty much only important thing on this ugly stick is Melee Splash however, allowing you and your Sentinels to clear a wide area. Add the ascendancy that gives you more Area of Effect through each Sentinel of Purity, and you can see why having Melee Splash linked to your Dominating Blow is important. One smack, and an entire set of Holy Ringwraiths join your cause.

If you can, couple the Melee Splash with Maim. Added Fire Damage is one of the only two useful Prefixes a Shaper stat stick can roll, the other being Elemental Damage with Attacks. For that to work though, you would need to swap the Haste with a Hatred. Mana leech is there to let me ignore No Regen mod in maps, which can be crafted onto a pair of gloves as well.

As I said before, a Doon Cuebiyari is also very effective as an off-hand weapon. The rares cover the resists and have just about enough strength on them to reach the 1000 cap required by the Baron.

Jewels:
Spoiler
Efficient Training, x2: You will socket these into the two jewel sockets that are placed near the Witch's starting area of the passive tree, one to the socket right above, and one to the socket that is between the Witch and Templar areas.

From Dust: Anywhere you want.

Rest of the jewel sockets should be filled with rare Abyssal or regular jewels with life, strength and whatever you fancy on them. If you wish, you can grab a Watcher's Eye as well.

Enchantments:
Spoiler
Boots: % Life and Mana Regen If You Were Hit Recently. More regen, because why not at this point. You are already at leech cap through your zombies, and you don't want to deal damage yourself.

Gloves: Commandment of Light or Commandment of the Grave are the best two options here, with Commandment of Reflection coming in a close third.

Helmet: Stone Golem Buff Effectiveness is the best overall enchantment you can go for, but if you are lucky, any of the Dominating Blow enchantments are great as well. Increased Skeleton Damage is the better one of the possible two, and the last useful enchantment would be Increased Vulnerability Curse Effectiveness

GEMS & LINKS:
Spoiler
Dominating Blow:
Spoiler
After Melee Splash, anything that would benefit your Sentinels is good. Gather as many as you can on a stat stick, and fill in the rest yourself. Multistrike helps you spawn them constantly during boss fights, Ruthless turns them into lawnmowers, Maim helps them crowd control, should you ever need to create distance. Oh yeah, also increases their damage by a lot.

Raise Zombie:
Spoiler
Defensive: Minion Life, Fortify, Melee Physical Damage, Minion Damage.

Utility: Minion Life, Fortify, Culling Strike, Increased Item Rarity.

Damage: Minion Damage, Melee Physical Damage, Ruthless, Concentrated Effect.

Defensive is the all rounder setup I use, Utility turns them into culling bots and Damage focuses on their slam attack, in which case you should also get 2 Violent Dead threshold jewels (which are ultra-cheap) to solidify that route.

Summon Skeleton:
Spoiler
In order of importance: Minion Damage, Brutality, Maim, Melee Physical Damage, Ruthless.
This order is to make sure Vaal version of the skill gets benefits as well, compared to only Melee Skeleton Warriors.

Mana Reserve:
Spoiler
Herald of Purity, Purity of Elements, Haste, Enlighten

An Enlighten LVL 2 is enough to get you started, otherwise, save Haste for later. If you wish, Haste can be swapped with Hatred. Personally I like the extra bit of movement speed, as Alberon does not have a lot of it.

Movement:
Spoiler
Charged Dash, Fortify, Curse on Hit, Vulnerability

Simple setup to help you stay away from the fight if you need to, help guide your minions around, and apply curse. Also, it can keep fortify up while staying ranged as well.

Golem & Animated Guardian:
Spoiler
These two will be socketed in Baron.
Stone Golem, Animated Guardian, Minion Life, Multistrike.

Since you want these two, and especially the animated guardian, alive at all times, they must get the +2 from Baron. Minion life is more life, and Multistrike grants more hits per swing for your guardian, increasing the chances that it'll proc a Frenzy Charge.

Utility:
Spoiler
Summon Holy Relic, Desecrate, Convocation, Spirit Offering.

You can toss these around anywhere that is free, which are mainly your off hand weapon and the second ring.
The relic is awesome, right from the start. Since this is a Templar summoner, and not a Necromancer one, we don't get free resists on our minions by giving them auras. While you will be in the thick of the fight and can mostly provide the Purity of Elements, Spirit Offering does still help increase your minions' damage and survivability.

HOW TO DEAL WITH:
Spoiler
  • Physical Reflect: Keep summoning Skeletons, stay away from the fight, and apply your Fortify using Charged Dash at range. You can even create Sentinels of Dominance, but make sure that you are hitting 3-4 monsters maximum as any more can kill you. Animated Guardian never deals enough damage to kill itself, but you will be replenishing Zombies. You might want to unsummon the Stone Golem as well, as it'll just kill itself.
  • Elemental Reflect: While easier for the Haste version, might become a problem for the Hatred version if you chose to go with that. Same rule for Physical Reflect applies here, you should not be swinging into too many monsters with your Dom Blow, no matter which aura you chose.
  • Hexproof: Insignificant.
  • Less Recovery: While you will notice if you get caught with this one on an unidentified map, it is still very manageable. Just stay 50% lazy instead of the build's usual of 100%, and you should be golden here.
  • Monsters Take Reduced Physical Damage: You still have way too many minions for this to ever slow you down.
  • Cannot Regen: Oh boy, you will notice how slow regular life leech can be. (As in no passives to boost it.) As long as you stay awake and try to not receive too much damage, your Zombies can keep you alive and well here. To be honest, their main purpose is to get you into no regen maps. Oh, do remember to have mana leech somewhere though, either as a master craft on your weapon or gloves, or as a prefix on your second ring. Just 0.4% is good enough, but do swap out Multistrike with a Ruthless so you don't drain too quickly.
  • Cannot Leech: While you can no longer rival Wolverine in terms of Recovery, your Ascendancy and the Holy Relic are more than enough to sustain you in these maps. Don't worry about mana leech, as your mana regen can handle that one.
  • Not having a phone to play mobile games with in 2018: OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!!! I went theeeeeeere!

LEVELING:
Spoiler
As this is a Baron build, you will need Strength. And then, some more Strength. Oh, and then some more. But before you go for all the strength nodes, you should focus on your main utility passives to smooth out your leveling process. The main targets to go for, right from the start are Spiritual Command and Sacrifice, which will boost your minions' damage and give them some base regen to keep them alive.

After that, your next goal is to get Resolute Technique. Let's face it, Relic wants you to hit things, Ascendancies will want that as well, and Dominating Blow depends on it, alons with Herald of Purity. There is no room for misses here.

Then you go straight up to complete your utility setup with Righteous Army and Spiritual Aid. Especially Righteous Army will make your minions almost immortal during the rest of the leveling process. And by now, you should be ready to pick up Dominating Blow and warp speed ahead.

Here's how your LVL 30 should look like:
https://poeplanner.com/AA4AAE8ADgUAACRPBJvsiuSvbGjy8B-iAASzwGYLYcauxPZyqayqWfMaOJBVJy9yD2aeoOZncUqfibwQUUVHYPimrKqpKpiQMzwtg1_60vcyfNkAAAAAAA==

Now that you have all your utility talents, and almost full set of minions, time to go for more minion passives.

LVL 45:
https://poeplanner.com/AA4AAHMADgUAADZPBJvsiuSvbGjy8B-iAASzwGYLYcauxPZyqayqWfMaOJBVJy9yD2aeoOZncUqfibwQUUVHYPimrKqpKpiQMzwtg1_60hZv42okqjbpg8y3PkGH-eiCx9P7qH1akWqsKPq4kxzcjxrr7vcyfNkAAAAAAA==

Now we are ready to take on Act 6 and beyond, but we will need more minions. Thankfully, there are some life nodes on the way as well.

LVL 60:
https://poeplanner.com/AA4AAJ0ADgUAAEtPBJvsiuSvbGjy8B-iAASzwGYLYcauxPZyqayqWfMaOJBVJy9yD2aeoOZncUqfibwQUUVHYPimrKqpKpiQMzwtg1_60hZv42okqjbpg8y3PkGH-eiCx9P7qH1akWqsKPq4kxzcjxrr7prgRZ1TUnyDES0snLzqakMI9G0ZIvRsC8k9v5fyHuyKa9tMswQHg9tVxvcyfNkAAAAAAA==

Almost complete with the minion passives, just grab the rest as you prepare yourself for mapping. Time to pick up the Sovereignty cluster so that you can get Haste or Hatred. If you lack Enlighten, go with Vitality here.

LVL 70:
https://poeplanner.com/AA4AAMEADgUAAF1PBJvsiuSvbGjy8B-iAASzwGYLYcauxPZyqayqWfMaOJBVJy9yD2aeoOZncUqfibwQUUVHYPimrKqpKpiQMzwtg1_60hZv42okqjbpg8y3PkGH-eiCx9P7qH1akWqsKPq4kxzcjxrr7prgRZ1TUnyDES0snLzqakMI9G0ZIvRsC8k9v5fyHuyKa9tMswQHg9tVxjpYrJj318y8qsSFYE25Fy9k51XWgKSuPmeb5FFQR-8OFCBfP_cyfNkAAAAAAA==

You are almost complete with Strength nodes at this point. Grab the rest as you level up.

LVL 80:
https://poeplanner.com/AA4AANUADgUAAGdPBJvsiuSvbGjy8B-iAASzwGYLYcauxPZyqayqWfMaOJBVJy9yD2aeoOZncUqfibwQUUVHYPimrKqpKpiQMzwtg1_60hZv42okqjbpg8y3PkGH-eiCx9P7qH1akWqsKPq4kxzcjxrr7prgRZ1TUnyDES0snLzqakMI9G0ZIvRsC8k9v5fyHuyKa9tMs9Af7-sEB4PbVcY6WKyY99fMvKrEhWBNuRcvZOdV1oCkrj5nm-RRUEfvDhQgXz_-CvJFOuGmVzGe9zJ82di9r6cczgAAAAAA

LVL 91: (All complete, for the non-insane)
https://poeplanner.com/AA4AAOsADgUAAHJPBJvsiuSvbGjy8B-iAASzwGYLYcauxPZyqayqWfMaOJBVJy9yD2aeoOZncUqfibwQUUVHYPimrKqpKpiQMzwtg1_60hZv42okqjbpg8y3PkGH-eiCx9P7qH1akWqsKPq4kxzcjxrr7prgRZ1TUnyDES0snLzqakMI9G0ZIvRsC8k9v5fyHuyKa9tMs9Af7-sEB4PbVcY6WKyY99fMvKrEhWBNuRcvZOdV1oCkrj5nm-RRUEfvDhQgXz_-CvJFOuGmVzGe9zJ82di9r6cczitQDc3-VJRvZlRodNpiGFaJ2GhY15YAAAAAAA==

LVL 95:
https://poeplanner.com/AA4AAPMADgUAAHZPBJvsiuSvbGjy8B-iAASzwGYLYcauxPZyqayqWfMaOJBVJy9yD2aeoOZncUqfibwQUUVHYPimrKqpKpiQMzwtg1_60hZv42okqjbpg8y3PkGH-eiCx9P7qH1akWqsKPq4kxzcjxrr7prgRZ1TUnyDES0snLzqakMI9G0ZIvRsC8k9v5fyHuyKa9tMs9Af7-sEB4PbVcY6WKyY99fMvKrEhWBNuRcvZOdV1oCkrj5nm-RRUEfvDhQgXz_-CvJFOuGmVzGe9zJ82di9r6cczitQDc3-VJRvZlRodNpiGFaJ2GhY15b2SIzPPfxYYwAAAAAA

LVL 100:
https://poeplanner.com/AA4AAP0ADgUAAHtPBJvsiuSvbGjy8B-iAASzwGYLYcauxPZyqayqWfMaOJBVJy9yD2aeoOZncUqfibwQUUVHYPimrKqpKpiQMzwtg1_60hZv42okqjbpg8y3PkGH-eiCx9P7qH1akWqsKPq4kxzcjxrr7prgRZ1TUnyDES0snLzqakMI9G0ZIvRsC8k9v5fyHuyKa9tMs9Af7-sEB4PbVcY6WKyY99fMvKrEhWBNuRcvZOdV1oCkrj5nm-RRUEfvDhQgXz_-CvJFOuGmVzGe9zJ82di9r6cczitQDc3-VJRvZlRodNpiGFaJ2GhY15b2SIzPPfxYY5hNOsYMXxynU6UAAAAAAA==
Last bumped on Dec 6, 2018, 6:04:32 PM
Hi sir! Nice giude!

But for noobs like me, not used with summoners, how do you level, i don't mean about the skill tree, you told pretty well!, but about the skills used and the links.

Is it possible to detail it a little bit plz?

Tkx in advance
"
GrandChampion wrote:
Hi sir! Nice giude!

But for noobs like me, not used with summoners, how do you level, i don't mean about the skill tree, you told pretty well!, but about the skills used and the links.

Is it possible to detail it a little bit plz?

Tkx in advance


First of all, thanks.

About leveling, you can start off using Smite along with Zombies. Holy Relic is available at LVL 4 as well, so it immediately helps keep those Zombies alive. Smite increases their damage, so it will be the main skill until you get Dominating Blow in Act 3, LVL 28. Probably, that is all you need to know about leveling as Dominating Blow with Melee Splash can cover the rest of the levels all by itself.

If you can, get a Lakishu's Blade at LVL 28 as well, since it comes with Multistrike in it. It is a great leveling tool for the Dom Blow. Since weapon damage is irrelevant, you can actually keep Lakishu with Dom Blow, Melee Splash and Melee Physical Damage in it until you can find your own stat stick. Don't worry about not getting killing blows, Sentinels of Purity are there to kill bosses for you, everything else is covered by Zombies and Sentinels of Dominance. Also, you can summon Skeletons any time you want. Reason for taking the utility talents first is to keep your army alive. Since after that you go for minion nodes, your army can crush anything on its path. (Gem level is the most important attribute for any minion skill. You don't have to worry about gear at all.) Convocation should be leveled on the back, as you don't really need it until red tier maps. Zombies should be linked to Skeletons as well, even in a Tabula Rasa, as it'll be too hard to get a decent unset ring during leveling. Zombies can make use of the same support gems as the Skeletons, so no worries there either. Try to fix your resists through implicit stats of your rings, and make sure those rares have enough Dex/Int on them to let you level your gems with ease.

You might want to keep spamming some Skeletons until you reach your Sentinels, and the only boss that can take a long time is Merveil as you won't have Herald of Purity by then. About links, I've told the order of importance for them on the guide, which means what support gem you should go for up until you get your 6th socket/link. (Just remember that you can level gems on your weapon swap, so pick a set for the Hungry Loop, and start leveling those support gems on your secondary weapon set.)

Let me know if you need anything else answered.
Ty, you're a beast!
Hello!

Thanks you !
I'm going to try more or less your build, i watched your guide, and i found it really helpful (i did my first ever character in this league, and i learnt on the way)

It may sound dumb, but, does the nerf of wielding 2 weapon affect your build? If yes, is wielding a shield viable?
"
YasuoZeo wrote:
Hello!

Thanks you !
I'm going to try more or less your build, i watched your guide, and i found it really helpful (i did my first ever character in this league, and i learnt on the way)

It may sound dumb, but, does the nerf of wielding 2 weapon affect your build? If yes, is wielding a shield viable?


Weapon damage is irrelevant for us. The nerf changed nothing for this build. Though, if you want, shield is very viable. Go for the Victario for yourself if you wish, which will grant some power charges for your minions, which will increase their damage by a lot.

Keep in mind that getting a shield has some downsides as well. Regular zombies, without Montregul, die a lot. Even if you go all in and grant them leech via the passive next to Gravepact. Their base and overall defenses are crap, but you need them to grant you leech, a powerful recovery effect on top of your already powerful life recovery as a guardian.

Doon Cuebiyari on the other hand, grant you bunch of armor which allows you to stay in the front lines longer. It also grants Iron Will to your Holy Relic, and that little tiny lovable regen bot turns into a killing machine. At the very least, it turns your little smacks into little grenades, giving them some oomph to get more killing blows for your Herald of Purity.

All three are viable options. I've started with Doon to get myself to 1000 STR faster. Dual wielding also grants 15% Attack Speed, so it helped my Leap Slams. After a while, I've found Charged Dash to be immensely better as this is not a build that wants to leap around. (Since we don't deal much damage ouselves and need our minions, that at the very least limits your movement through Convocation cooldown. No minions around you means you don't get many killing blows, which means no Sentinels of Dominance.) I've stuck with Doon a lot, up until I was farming T15-16 levels. Then my zombies started dropping like flies, and this build has too low cast speed to replenish them fast enough. Plus, I reserve a lot of mana, so to keep zombies around, Herald could be lost, but I did not want any decrease in the variety of my army.

I've found alive zombies to be much more consistent, and nowadays only have to manage myself as I'm also used to the extra Armor Doon granted me.

So that should cover all the options, their upsides and downsides for a new player like you. If you got more questions, feel free to ask.

My Twitch stream will be a lot more routine once the new season starts. I'm getting my computer and starter builds ready these days, so more videos on youtube but less time streaming. If you drop by, I'll be happy to answer anything there as well.
Last edited by Scorage on Dec 6, 2018, 3:18:22 PM
"
Weapon damage is irrelevant for us. The nerf changed nothing for this build. Though, if you want, shield is very viable. Go for the Victario for yourself if you wish, which will grant some power charges for your minions, which will increase their damage by a lot.

I understand, i wasn't too sure since i never used 2 weapons wielded like that yet, but it's understood now!

"
Keep in mind that getting a shield has some downsides as well. Regular zombies, without Montregul, die a lot. Even if you go all in and grant them leech via the passive next to Gravepact. Their base and overall defenses are crap, but you need them to grant you leech, a powerful recovery effect on top of your already powerful life recovery as a guardian.


Doon Cuebiyari on the other hand, grant you bunch of armor which allows you to stay in the front lines longer. It also grants Iron Will to your Holy Relic, and that little tiny lovable regen bot turns into a killing machine. At the very least, it turns your little smacks into little grenades, giving them some oomph to get more killing blows for your Herald of Purity.


Yeah i saw that on my character: i started to play with zombie and relic, i gave them up when i saw their fragility and now i'm with a weird build on my guardian, a mix between minion (skeletton, stone golem, specter and herald + phantasm on kill) and cast (arc and orb of storm) because i couldn't choose when i leveled (i still reduced my whole skill set lol, newbie way you know :D).
And honestly your build convince me a lot and is something i want to try: when i did my weirdo build what i loved the most was the idea to have a really big army (but i didn't know dominating blow though, i was even screaming on global one maaaaaan army lol)

More seriously
If i summarize:
- 2 weapons in hands provide many advantage in the build such as the buff for the zombies, and/or defensive boost through Doon
- Shield will provide more advantage in the def side and buff like victario's one, to the cost of weaker minions like zombie or

"

All three are viable options. I've started with Doon to get myself to 1000 STR faster. Dual wielding also grants 15% Attack Speed, so it helped my Leap Slams. After a while, I've found Charged Dash to be immensely better as this is not a build that wants to leap around. (Since we don't deal much damage ouselves and need our minions, that at the very least limits your movement through Convocation cooldown. No minions around you means you don't get many killing blows, which means no Sentinels of Dominance.) I've stuck with Doon a lot, up until I was farming T15-16 levels. Then my zombies started dropping like flies, and this build has too low cast speed to replenish them fast enough. Plus, I reserve a lot of mana, so to keep zombies around, Herald could be lost, but I did not want any decrease in the variety of my army.

I've found alive zombies to be much more consistent, and nowadays only have to manage myself as I'm also used to the extra Armor Doon granted me.

I didn't played with a dash until something like lvl 60/70, and i didn't scout them, i got the advice for leap or shield charge: i found that leap was quite clunky compared to shield charge and went in it (with fortify and the support gem for AS)
Doon was also my weapon until recently, i will keep use it until this kind of level i think too..

For what is mandatory items wise, are they hard to get early on league? I think about amulets for example ?

"

So that should cover all the options, their upsides and downsides for a new player like you. If you got more questions, feel free to ask.

My Twitch stream will be a lot more routine once the new season starts. I'm getting my computer and starter builds ready these days, so more videos on youtube but less time streaming. If you drop by, I'll be happy to answer anything there as well.
Thank you a lot for such help ^^

I'll probably ask questions while evolving ^^!
As for youtube i'll gladly watch them hopefully, it'll increase my english level lol!
"
YasuoZeo wrote:
More seriously
If i summarize:
- 2 weapons in hands provide many advantage in the build such as the buff for the zombies, and/or defensive boost through Doon
- Shield will provide more advantage in the def side and buff like victario's one, to the cost of weaker minions like zombie or

"
YasuoZeo wrote:

For what is mandatory items wise, are they hard to get early on league? I think about amulets for example ?


Mont'regul helps your Zombies survive, Doon helps you survive. Shield allows you do block attacks a bit more often (but not a lot) and almost doubles your army's damage as long as you are generating charges. I.E: Hitting stuff, a lot. (If you are taking the shield, give your Animated Guardian something else, like Dying Breath.)

Giving your minions leech is a good idea too in terms of Zombie survival, but the problem is their survivability in the big fights, like Shaper or Uber Elder. Problem is, most of your army is time based, so Zombies are the only thing you need to protect and the leech is kind of useless for the rest. Golem and Guardian have a lot of HP so base regen keep them alive, Sentinels and Skeletons do not live long enough to leech, or get replaced too fast for leech to be effective.

Shaper fight, enough zombies survive to keep the leech. Uber Elder, they drop like flies. Plus, lack of good movement speed due to Alberon's low base speed is a big problem in that fight as well. Skeletons carried me a lot, but when the core of the army, golem and zombies drop, your life starts to degrade as well. I also have to add that I have not playtested this build enough in Uber Elder. For anyone interested, I suggest using a Saffel's Frame for the resists, and leech talent for the rest of the army in that fight only.

About early league, the Sidhebreath is useful. Though usually your amulets and rings are reserved for giving you the main stats you need. Other than that, there are no cheap useful leveling stuff I can suggest. Lakishu's Blade is good to keep until you can find a Shaper weapon for the Dom Blow, as the damage is irrelevant but the extra gem in it, is.

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